GEMS Live! Artists

GEMS Live! artists are available for bookings nationally and internationally. For booking inquiries, please contact Shirley Hunt, Director of Booking and Artist Representation, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or (415) 340-2621.

Winner of the 2004 Early Music America Competition for Medieval and Renaissance Performance, the New York Times has called their music "intimate and deeply communicative... meltingly beautiful." Asteria is known for its compelling and personal delivery of 15th century vocal and instrumental music from the courts of Burgundy, performed entirely from memory. Since winning the competition Sylvia and Eric have had a busy touring schedule in the US and have performed in Mexico, Japan, England, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Belgium. They have released four CDs, 'Le Souvenir de vous me tue', 'Soyes Loyal', 'Un tres doulx regard', and 'For the Love of Jaqueline'. Short videos on their website were filmed on location in the only extant Burgundian chateau, Germolles.

“Intimate and deeply communicative… meltingly beautiful.” –The New York Times

East of the River was founded by internationally renowned recorder players Nina Stern and Daphna Mor. The project explores haunting and virtuosic melodies from the traditional repertoires of the Balkans, Armenia and the Middle East, as well as gems of the Medieval European classical repertory. The music is arranged and interpreted by musicians whose musical backgrounds include Classical, World music, and Jazz. Together they create the unique blend that is East of the River. The members of the ensemble have separately recorded and performed with artists as Yo Yo Ma, Philip Glass, Jordi Savall, Sting, Natalie Merchant, Aerosmith, Simon Shaheen, Glen Velez and many others.

House of Time, known for their “fluency and command” (San Francisco Classical Voice) is dedicated to both well-known and underperformed repertoire of the 17th through the 21st century played on period instruments. Members and guests include Juilliard and Curtis faculty and alumni of The Juilliard School, as well as prize-winners of major international competitions. Using the instruments and techniques of the past to express the vivid passions in the music, House of Time has moved audiences and keeps them coming back for more. Critics have declared oboist, Gonzalo X. Ruiz, “one of only a handful of truly superb baroque oboists in the world” (Alte Musik Aktuell); Tatiana Daubek, is known for her "sleekly elegant playing" (Gazettes Long Beach); Avi Stein, one of NYC’s finest, is described by the New York Times as “a brilliant organ soloist” and Beiliang Zhu, is described by the New Yorker as “elegant, sensual and stylishly wild”.

Parthenia, a viol consort, has been hailed by The New Yorker as "one of the brightest lights in New York's early-music scene". This dynamic ensemble explores the extraordinary repertory for viols of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries from Tudor England to the court of Versailles and beyond. Parthenia has released five CDs including two with soprano Julianne Baird on the MSR Classics label.

“One of the brightest lights in New York’s early-music scene.” –The New Yorker

Inspired by the renowned chapel choirs of the Renaissance, Pomerium revives the golden age of a cappella singing. The ensemble, featuring some of the finest singers in the country and acclaimed for its luminous sound, performs frequently in New York at such venues as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cloisters, the Pierpont Morgan Library, the Frick Collection, and Music Before 1800, as well as across the USA and abroad. The New York Times noted that Pomerium is "the standard by which early music vocal groups are measured." The group of 12-14 singers is available for a variety of programs including Renaissance mannerism, the Vatican chapel, Josquin, and others. Distinguished scholar/conductor Alexander Blachly is also available for entertaining and enriching lectures before or after concerts.

“One of the finest early-music ensembles in the country, and perhaps the world.” –The New York Times

GEMS Live! is a unique not-for-profit booking agency representing a roster of New York's world-class early music ensembles: Asteria, East of the River, House of Time, Parthenia, and Pomerium.